Kreisleriana, Op. 16, is a set of eight piano pieces Schumann wrote in a few days in the spring of 1838. The title refers to Johannes Kreisler, a fictional Kapellmeister in E.T.A. Hoffmann’s stories: brilliant, unstable, and half mad.
The pieces alternate between wild, fast music and slow, inward music. These were the two sides Schumann gave names to: Florestan, the impulsive one, and Eusebius, the dreamer. He told Clara Wieck that she was the main idea behind the work. At the time, her father was refusing to let them marry. He dedicated it to Chopin.
The ending is unusual. There is no big finish. The last piece is quiet and light, and it fades out in the bass.
Sixteen years later, Schumann himself asked to be taken to an asylum. In hindsight, the choice of Kreisler as a subject is hard to ignore.